Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a retrograde step. In previous debates in this House I have proposed that reform of the Seanad include a greater role for representatives from Northern Ireland. From talking to Unionist politicians with whom I am friendly, there would be a willingness on their part to accept a seat in this House, with the proviso that there were sufficient numbers across all of the Unionist parties to ensure nobody would be put in the position where he or she would be isolated. That could and should have been done. There is a great deal we could do with this House.

I am appalled that we are seeing an abortion spree on a range of issues, the proposal to abolish the Seanad being just one. Last week we had the expulsion of Deputies from the Fine Gael Party, some of whom had given tremendous service, because they would not abrogate their conscience to meet the demands of somebody whose conscience was far less sensitive and less finely tuned than theirs. This week the people concerned are being aborted from their offices. We have had discussion in the House this week about people being evicted from their homes because they cannot meet their mortgage payments. Yesterday Senator Sean D. Barrett pointed out that the banks were being given the power to evict people in rented accommodation, even where they had met all the tenets of their lease and were paying their rent on time. We have seen powers being given to the Revenue Commissioners to take money from people's accounts if they do not pay the property tax. This is slowly but surely becoming a totalitarian state. The worst aspects of the Fine Gael Party, particularly the Blueshirt element, as well as the strong socialist and Marxist tendencies within elements of the Labour Party, are being allowed to come to the surface.

That is regrettable and as a nation we will come to regret it. We see people being bullied, in Fine Gael in particular.